hearing test

[Isa11]

My daughter failed two hearing screening tests in her left ear and has now been referred for an ABR. She is 8 weeks old. Has anyone had this experience? How did things turn out? Any informatoin would be appreciated.
Many thanks. Isa

Hi,
Moat of the babies who are referred onto audiology for the abr are found to have no problems.
one of the reasons for not being able to get a clear response is that there could be a temporary blockage in the ear, so the sound from the screning equipment cannot pass through therefore the equipment cant get the clear resonse from the ear.

she has failed the probe test twice - this is done by sending a sound down the ear and an 'echo' comes back - there are LOADS of people who don't get a response from this but are okay - could be due to fluid in the ear from the birth (normal and quite common.)

What she has been referred I think is where they put a kind of hat on her that measures electrical activity in the brain.

Ask me anything and I will try and remember!

just found this from the NDCS - explains it much better than me so ignore what I said before!

Yes, ds2 had this when he was a few weeks old. One of his ears "passed" the first test straight away, the other they couldn't get a reading from for the first 2 tests.

He had the AABR test and they got a reading straight away. They thought the reason they hadn't been able to get a reading before was because the earpiece wasn't small enough (he was barely over 5lbs when the test was done!).

I hope it all goes well for you and dd; do you have a date yet for the test?

i i see so you have had the first two oae test but you havent had an abr yet? is that right?
I thought you had had an aabr and were being referred to audiology!

it is quite common to not get clear responses from the oae screen {the one where the ear piece is used) the abr measure the responcse from the auditorY Nerve bY using sensors to pick up resposes from the brain.

this test will usually byPASS slight blockages of fluid in the ear.
but if there is still of lot of fluid in the ear then the abr can be affeted by this also.

so if yiou still don't get a clear respnse fromthe abr then it doesnt nessassarily mean ther eis a hearing loss.

your ds will be referred to audiology for further testing.

Thanks for the replies. DimpleThighs, I presume you've been through this experience. Is there anything I can do to clear out fluid before going to the test? Or, is it better not to interfere.

Can fluid from birth really stay trapped for so many weeks? (she is 8 weeks old)

Toothyboy, glad to hear someone else had the same experience and all was ok. The date of my tes for her is 2nd of January. A long wait over Christmas. Agh! Hard to put at the back of my mind. Have to try though to not spoil things for my older daughter.

Another question for you all: Do any of you have older kids? Have you found that the younger one is more tolerant to noise and startles less easily? I am asking this because it is of course adding to my concerns that my daughter will barely blink when her older sister starts shrieking at the top of her lungs in front of her. When my older daughter was a baby she would startle at the slightest sound...
I presume though since she passed the hearing test in her right hear, she must hear her sister shouting, but just isn't surprised by it.

Paranoia will no doubt continue until the test date.